University of Michigan
'Mock checkpoint'
By Jane Cutter
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Facing bitterly cold wind and snow, more than 50 supporters
of Palestinian liberation protested creatively outside a
pro-Zionist conference at the University of Michigan on March
10. Protesters organized a "mock military checkpoint" which
depicted the reality of life for many Palestinians as they
attempt to go to work, school, places of worship and the
hospital.
The conference, "Israel Under the Lens: An Academic
Conference," was in no way a genuine scholarly conference.
Sponsored largely by an assortment of Zionist organizations, it
featured the "Caravan for Democracy"--a campaign to bring
pro-Israel speakers to campuses to attempt to rebut the growing
movement for Palestine.
A free CD from the Caravan for Democracy, distributed to
conference participants, proclaimed "Israel and America:
Sharing hopes. Sharing values." The CD is intended to be a
source of information to "respond effectively to the anti-U.S.
and anti-Israel chorus on campus." Speakers at the conference
included the notoriously right-wing academic Ray Tantor--who
has promulgated the "Rogue States" theory about such nations as
Cuba, North Korea, Libya and Iraq--as well as Relik Shafir, an
Israeli general.
Starting at 9:30 am, protesters organized by Students Allied
for Freedom and Equality and the Arab-American
Anti-Discrimination Committee at U of M set up a "check-point,"
identified with a banner, outside the conference. Some
protesters portrayed Israeli Defense Force soldiers, wielding
cardboard machine guns. Others depicted ordinary Palestinians
trying to cross the checkpoint, including injured people trying
to go to a hospital and a woman in labor. A cardboard
ambulance, complete with flashing red light, and a stretcher
carrying an injured "child" added to the vivid images.
A narrator set the stage for various skits as the
Palestinians approached the checkpoint and tried to get
through, only to be denied entry by the mock soldiers. All the
scenarios depicted by the street theatre protest had their
basis in actual incidents at checkpoints.
The creativity and fortitude of the young, mostly Arab and
Muslim, protesters seemed to mirror the courage and spirit of
those resisting the U.S.-backed Israeli repression on the front
lines in Palestine. Protesters held the line in the cold and
wind for two hours, then regrouped at 4:30 p.m. when the
conference keynote speaker was scheduled to appear.
Earlier in the week, more than 100 campus activists had
marched in solidarity with the Palestinian people in
record-breaking cold weather.
Reprinted from the March 21, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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